Merry Christmas!!

We had a very enjoyable Christmas! We hope that you did also!

We opened gifts at Grandpa's so that he could be with us and be part of all the excitement, and also for him to be able to share the Christmas story with the kids again before opening gifts. He likes his space and feels most comfortable in it, without my little dogs running around. I can understand that since the morning was a bit chaotic as it was :-) I truly do think Aubri and Andy understood and Sera knew it was Jesus' birthday. She also was very certain Santa had to come down the "fire" , since they had discussed this aspect at school. We did not not tell her otherwise, so she enjoyed the magical moments of thinking the gifts had been delivered through grandpa's Amish miracle heater :-)

The blessings of the season were definitely apparent as the children hugged each other and us as they rejoiced in ther newfound treasures. They really played well all day with very few squabbles, even though we were in tighter quarters at Grandpa's and they literally were in each other's space quite often. It was so nice to enjoy this day with Grandpa and celebrate the best gift of all, the most special birthday, together!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Whew! Last minute adventures!!

With all of the hustle and buslte of the end of the school semester, etc... getting ready for Christmas at home had basically amounted to just getting the presents purchased. We did some cooking for snack type foods and wanted to do more, but time did not allow for it. So... we postponed to do some on Christmas day, rather than just play with toys. The kids liked that idea, so I relaxed a bit and decided to let that slide until then. Today, Aubri and I had planned on a leisurely wrapping/ cookie decorating day with Grandpa and possibly going out to see the Christmas lights before reading the Christmas story and going to bed.

Knowing that the wrapping was the last thing to do on the list, we slept in late, went to Grandpa's to eat a late brunch together and got ready to start wrapping. As I sorted out the gifts, which had been delivered to Grandpa's, or to our house and stashed away, I realized that a very major gift was missing!!! Andy had asked for a Nintendo DS for over a year. He has been very consistent in saying that was the one thing he wanted for a long time, especially when talking about his "Santa list". This little boy is so busy and active that I do not worry a bit about letting him have some sedentary time to sit and play a game some of the time ! In fact a few minutes of quiet are greatly appreciated by this old mom! :-)

We searched all over and since Grandpa had been the one to actually purchase this item in person, rather than the online shopping I have become so fond of, he started to question if he had actually purchased it. He got quite distressed that his memory is failing him and we decided to go to Best Buy to see if it actually did get purchased and if not we would get one and all would be just fine. Aubri stayed home with the little ones for the short time we planned to be out. She does a great job with them and I am so blessed! At the store, they were able to look it up and it had been purchased.

We decided. or rather I kept trying to convince him, that he must have been interrupted while he was putting it away and that it must be in the house somewhere, just not anywhere he was hiding anything else.

Since we were not sure that we would find it in time, however, we tried to find another one, so that Andy would have his desired gift tomorrow morning. WOW! Every child in town must have also asked for the same thing and the stores did not keep enough in stock. We raced into store after store. Each one filled with last minute shoppers! Our 2o minute jaunt took well over 4 hours!! Well, I hobbled in as fast as I could and my dad still kept up with me. No place we went had any... None at all! I truly did not know what to do, neither did my dad, but we kept calmly telling each other that it would be OK, while inside just feeling absolutely awful.

As we stopped at the grocery store quickly before going home, I called Aubri again to check on her and the kids and decided that I had to also enlist her eyes to try to help find the gift while they waited for us. I did not want her to give away what she was looking for to Andy though. I told her to look in all the places Grandpa might have just set a plastic bag. I told her not to look IN anything, just on every shelf in the garage, in the den, kitchen etc.... She already knew not to let Andy know what she was looking for and really took this new mission seriously!!! I should have enlisted her help with this so much earlier!!! I was just too worried to think straight, I guess....

Within 5 minutes she called me back telling me that she FOUND IT!! My baby girl, who is such a responsible young lady now, saved her little brother's AND her mom and grandpa's holiday!!!

She found it right it plain sight... on top of the book case, where Pop had evidently set it when bringing it in to hide, but was disrupted. He felt so badly that he was losing his mind. It did not matter how many times I tried to reassure him that I do the same thing far too often. It is so easy to start doing something and get interrupted, set things down to take care of the interruption and then have no clue where you left them. Less than 1 hour later, I was searching for some picture frames that I knew I had, but had no idea where I put them! Yep, same kind of situation and they were also found!

The Heavens were guarding my two littlest ones surprises for tomorrow morning since Aubri and I quickly wrapped gifts, Grandpa went to see Evelyn and Andy and Sera enjoyed Grandpa's wide selection of digital TV holiday specials. Both of the were totally clueless that Aubri and I were up to anything! If they did know, they were extremely cooperative in allowing for some surpise tomorrow!

Our Christmas eve was not what I planned it to be, but all is done and we enjoyed our time together, so it went just as it should!! Suprises are all ready for tomorrow morning! We will open gifts at Grandpa's tomorrow so that he can be there with us without having to get out. It will be so nice to have him with us as the kids enjoy their suprises!! We will just have to read our Bible story together, decorate some cookies and go see the lights tomorrow!

Always too many steps behind....

I cannot begin to catch up... We are getting ready for Christmas today and will be wrapping packages etc... I went to charge the camera battery and realized that I hadn't even downloaded our Thanksgiving photos to the computer yet. Imagine that...

So, before I went to take my shower, I had to put some of them together to share and to print for our scrapbook before time slipped any further away and it didn't get done. Such is the life of a single parent of 3 busy little people :-)

Here are our scrapbook pages to record our Thanksgiving this year. It was the first we have been able to spend with our Grandpa in several years, since Evelyn had a difficult time being around the kids. As you can see from the photos, the kid love their 80 yr old grandpa and he loves them! I truly cannot imagine much more to be thankful for than the people in good health and sharing such happiness that day. We had a good family friend join us and enjoyed eating and playing the Wii, but the kids enjoyed playing with grandpa even more than the Wii!! Hard to imagine, but I am so thankful for his good health and the time the Lord is giving us to spend with him

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Santa, or Christ's Birthday? The answer is simple!

Today we tried to get out to get some of the necessary shopping done for the week. We bought a toy for Toys for Tots and a couple of things for the kids gift exchanges at school while they looked at things they are hoping Santa will bring. After we did the shopping, and I had them in the car. Andy asked me a question I truly had no answer for and still really don't. Thankfully he let me put of answering him when the phone rang and has not pushed me for an answer since we have come home.


He asked me, "Mommie, Does Santa not know where China is? He never brought me anything of my own when I lived there and now he brings me toys and clothes I do not have to share with everyone. Was I a bad boy in China? He never brought me black rocks either. Where was he?"


I am really feeling that this year it is it is necessary to be telling him the truth about Santa and just having Christmas in our house be about celebrating Christ's birth and sharing his love with those we love, as it really should be. Aubri already knows and was excited to be sharing Santa with them, but she also thinks we should let Santa just visit other homes and our gifts all be gifts of love to each other. Sera will not have a Christmas with a visit from Santa that she will understand, since last year she had no clue why we had presents under the tree, but I think it will be for the best now, especially hearing how Andy felt he must have done something wrong for Santa to forget him. Little children's fascination with Santa and the glee of Christmas morning are all so wonderful, but for my little ones who know Santa was not there for them, I truly am not sure trying to get them to believe in Santa is a good thing. Especially when I have to tell Andy not to tell lies other times!


I think we are going to have to have a very serious talk. My babies will all have to know the truth. I hope it helps them enjoy the season even more, rather than worry about why they had been forgotten by Santa before coming here. They really need to know that their Father in heaven has never forgotten them and what a great gift he has given them, even when they were in China and did not have the presence of their earthly loving family around them.

So, thanks to my very astute and questioning son, we are going to enjoy Christmas as it should be. A true CHRISTmas full of His love and family joy!

One Step at a Time

This past week has been so long, and yet so short. Not enough time to get things done and not enough energy to do them! We have all had a bad cold and resulting complications and I am soooo ready for the break!!

This week while we were rushing out the door, though, I saw my sweet Sera make a huge accomplishment, and I was almost too rushed to see it! She has always had trouble going up and down steps, since her rickets had made her muscles so weak and her balance much more difficult to keep. She has made good gains in walking and running, but steps were still a cause for caution.

Thursday morning I saw her pick up her brother's hat to take it out to the car for him, where he was already waiting. She flew down the garage step and never once reached over to hang on to steady herself!!

ONE step mastered!!!

Santa

Can you tell from the photo who was annoyed that Santa was not listening to what she wanted?

She didn't have a long list, but Santa did not understand her and would not let her explain.....

Mommie asked Santa to help hurry up the scheduling for her surgery!!!!

Opthamologist appt- the good and the bad news

Well, after waiting for what feels like forever ( actually just a little over 2 months) to get an appt with the dept head of Opthamology at our local Childrens hospital, we finally got to go.

I had taken the day off work and entered my absence on the computer weeks ago, but amazingly when I went it to talk to the sub this morning as I dropped Andy off, there was NONE.... My absence had been deleted when Sp Ed had deleted an inservice absence and I had to wait for a sub to pick it up after we entered it again..... Not a good start to the day, but it worked out OK.

It did not snow on the hour and a half drive ,both to and from, , so that was really good news! I was prepared to be driving n snow and ice. Pop came with us and had even packed blankets and a spade.

Sera was willing to have her eyes dilated and checked and even cooperated in reading the pictures after Aubri did it, so that was also good news! Then the Dr. told me that outside of her duct problems and the lower eyelid not attaching where it should, her vision is great. Another really great piece of news for the day!

Then the bad news.... We have to come back to have the occuloplastic surgeon evaluate Sera in January. I will have to take another day off work (of which I have very precious few left due to my knee replacement and know that I will need them when she ever gets to have these surgeries, let alone if anyone actually gets sick...). When I set up the appointment with the referral from Shriner the receptionist assured me several times that I needed opthamology not plastic surgery. I told her repeatedly that Sera has a Tessier Cleft and that it affects her eyelid and tear ducts... I guess I just said these things for my own benefit.

Soooo we wait some more and see a different Dr. in January. Hopefully her surgeries will now not conflict!! I so wanted to have one done over the Christmas break!!

"He" must have a reason why surgery for Sera is constantly being delayed!! I guess that I am needing these lessons in waiting and just need to develop more patience, or maybe He is trying to save my budget and keep me from total confusion and bankruptcy from all the medical bills that have been coming in from my surgery. Who knows? I know that I am trying to get it done now that she has become more safely attached and able to understand what is happening, and something keeps stepping in the way to let me know that we are just not as ready as I wanted to be.....

Something to think about

If we all take this approach, maybe no one else will literally get mowed down in our rush to spend money.

10 things

We have decided to each write 10 things we are thankful for this year and review it in years to come and possibly in tough times to come. We thought it would be fun to share them with you too and maybe you would like to share with us what you are grateful for this year!

Counting blessings is actually really more fun than opening boxes with colored paper!We had a lot of fun together trying to figure out how to limit things to 10!

Aubri
1.My home- because with out it we would not be safe from the weather.
2. My family- because I love them and they make me smile and they love me and take care of me.
3. Food- so that I don't starve
4. Education, because when I get older I will be able to get a good scholarship and a good job.
5. My dogs, because they help me learn responsibility and because they are cute and make me smile.
6. Books, because I like to read about other places and people.
7. Friends, because they make me happy when I see them.
8. Toys, because I laugh when I get to play and it is nice to laugh once in a while.
9. Singing is something I like to do and it makes me feel magical.
10. Art because it is one of my favorite things to do when I am bored.

Andy
1. I am a boy, because I am happy like I am.
2. Food because I can share with people who need to eat.
3. My Mom, because I love her and she loves me and she feeds me and give me neat clothes and reads to me.
4. My sisters, because I love them and they love me and play with me.
5. My dogs because I like to play with them.
BaoBao, because he likes to play with me.
6. My family, because I love them.
7. My grandpa, because I love him and he cooks good food for me and plays games with me.
8. My teachers, because them help me to learn.
9. My country, because you have to keep your country safe and clean.
10. My drawing, because I can draw nice.

Sera
1. Mommie- I am a mommie's girl
2. My sister- She play wtih me
3. My brother- He play lego with me
4. My Grandpa and Grandma- He feeds me food
5. Dora and Kai Lan- I like the TV
6. Dogs- They cute animals. They nice doggies.
7. Eating- I get hungry
8. Miss Jenn- She MY teacher
9. Friends- They play with me
10. My blocks- They fun to play with.

Mom
1.My faith in my Heavenly Father and his help in guiding me though many difficult times.
2. My dad- because he has been my rock for my entire life. He stood by me and has helped support me emotionally and far to often financially when things have been tough. He has given me my sense of values and I know that they are the most important things in this life, both for me and for those sweet little people I am blessed to be able to also share them with as they begin their lives.
3. My sweet Aubri because she has been such a good influence on my life. Her bright and cheery spirit and abilities to care for others, especially when I have also needed her help this year are absolutely priceless.
4. My wonderful and loving, busy little boy, Andy, because his unique way of seeing things in this world from a different perspective has really helped me broaden mine and learn to see the fun in many things I would have simply ignored.
5. My sweet, silly and sassy Sera, who makes me smile every day and be so gratefu for everything we have. She has a true gift of warming hearts and l love her so much.
6. My health, while it definitey has been better in the past, I am so thankful that I am able toget up each day, walk on my own, think clearly ( most of the time, when I am not too tired :-)) and hold a useful job.
I really am not kidding when I say that I am grateful for my messed up leg (s), even though it has annoyed me often and caused me more pain than I ever want to admit, it has also taught me humility and patience which come in very handy on a day to day basis.
7. My job, because while it is definitely not the high paying job I might have held if I had taken a different road many years ago, it is very meaningful to me and has very little risk of disappearing and leaving my family without income.
8. My friends, who keep me honest, keep me smiling, listen to my gripes and shove me in directions I need to go.
9. My home, while messy and not the show place I would like it to be right now, it is very comfortable and keeps my children safe, healthy and happy ( due to all the toys scattered everywhere!) I also love my Amish heater which keeps us so toasty warm at night!
10. My dogs, who have kept me company in the past when I was lonely and who now ease my nerves after a long day of noise and kids :-)


Thanksgiving day photos to come later!

Amazing change....

Last night as we hustled in and out of the grocery store to purchase a few last minute things, I realized something.

At this time last year, my little Sera never asked for anything, not a drink, not to eat or even to go to the bathroom. It was not just a communication issue either, since she did not ask our guide for any of these things either. She just sat and played with her empty bottle while she waited for life to pass by and was absolutely thrilled when anything was offered to her.

Last night, she was tired and hungry and was very clear about that as we waited in line. She wanted to eat and she wanted to do it SOON! When I would tell her that we were going to eat as soon as we got home, she would frown and put her little hands on her hips and tell me very loudly, "Dut Nonnie, dere is fwood here wite now!". Everyone around us could not help but smile.

While it would have been so much easier to have her simply wait quietly, I am so thankful for her to have been able to make this so important change in her way of interacting with the world! She now sees herself as IMPORTANT and deserving of having me meet her basic needs.

She truly has no idea how how much I love her, but she is learning!

365 days ago....

Aubri and I had traveled to Beijing, spent a day in Changchun and Siping visiting foster homes, and spent the previous day and part of the night fogged in the Shenyang Airport, managed to run to catch a flight to Shanghai, raced across Shanghai by taxi, slept for 3 hours at the Pudong Airport hotel, rushed through huge crowds to catch a flight to Taiyuan, worried all the way to Taiyuan about what would happen next, met our guide and traveled to the Taiyuan Civil affairs office and then FINALLY we met a wet, tired, scared and angry little Sera!!! It truly was the biggest whirlwind of travel I could ever have imagined possible!! I signed the paperwork saying that I wanted to be her mother, no matter what the nanny said about advising me to wait and see if I liked her since she was sooo "difficult", what ever that meant. It made me angry and I had no intention of not bringing her home, no matter how much she hated me ( which she very definitely did!) . Aubri was overwhelmed with exhaustion and excitement to meet her new little sister, only to be whacked in the head with her water bottle, repeatedly... Thankfully our guide was able to convince Sera to leave with us!

What an emotion filled family we were that day!

Fast forward to today, we are a busy and very happy little family! Sera is full of smiles and cuddles from the moment she wakes up each day. She can be stubborn and get her feelings hurt and wear them on her shirt sleeve a bit, but very quickly lets it roll of and is back to being her happy little self! Even today, when she has a stomach virus and cannot keep a thing down! She is quiet for a while, and then once she has an empty stomach again, she is up and playing and wanting to be cuddled and loved. She is as smart as a whip and learns new concepts so quickly! She loves to sing and dance and is a total little charmer! She mimics everything and keeps her preschool teacher on her toes too! She is talking a mile a minute and makes sure that everyone around her falls in love with her instantly!

I cannot imagine life without her. I cannot imagine not having survived and successfully made that life altering trek to Taiyuan to bring her home. I cannot imagine never having been inside the police stations in Taiyuan and GZ chasing down a new visa and reporting our stolen passports. I cannot imagine having closed my heart to even considering bringing her home when I was first told of her file and asked if I thought she would be OK. All of these things could easily have never worked out the way they did.

I am so grateful for His hand in shaping our lives and cannot wait to see what the next chapter will be, no matter what worries about the future may shade the path as we travel it!! We are truly blessed and I am so happy to be able to look into her sweet little face, receive the best sloppy kiss ever and cuddle her while telling her our story to bring her home.

We are finally part of the Wii generation!

Grandpa and I had promised Aubri and Andy a Wii for their birthdays last January and they have patiently waited almost 10 months for me to find it in a price range we could swallow. We had put aside the money for it, so that I couldn't use the excuse that I couldn't buy it when we found it, which is a good thing since money has been so very tight due to my being off work with this knee replacement. I had truly been searching all this time. Finally today we found it!!! And is was in my price range!!! Aubri was so excited that she was literally bright red and jumping up and down for almost 30 minutes, before she started breathing easier as she realized we really did have it and she was going to get to play it! She has played it at some of her friends homes and has truly been such a trooper waiting for me to find it for her. I am definitely not a fan of buying games or even systems new, kind of like new cars, and absolute despise the inflated prices for buying something everyone wants.... We truly lucked out today!

The used game shop in town also had 2 of the games she and Andy had wanted and now they have something to put on their lists for Santa! We are using the poem of " Something you want, something you need, something to play with and something to read" for their Santa gifts and 2 will fit a game category :-) Today they got Nights and Mario Galaxy, which are both able to be played as 2 player. Sera is very interested in it and maybe a Princess game will be on her Santa list.. She is loving wathing Aubri try to learn to play Nights right now. We will see :-) I know Aubri wants Cooking Mama, Animal Crosing, Harvest Moon and some game that you sing and dance with. If I have to buy them new, she is going to have to make a choice of one! Geez ,these Wii games are really pricey!! Andy doesn't know yet what he wants, but I have no fears that he will soon! I need to get him deciding so that I can put in a wish list at the used game shop. Good thing their birthdays are coming soon after Christmas and they can get a game then too.

I guess I will not be watching much TV in the future, but that really may be a very good thing! they won't be wanting to either!

Some photos of the crazy times around here

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I wish I had been able to get more photos of Trunk or Treats or out Trick or Treating last night. I at least got one of each child in their parade at school. We went to a small town about 20 miles from home and had and old time Halloween. The kids walked to the church and to trunk or treats and then rode around in the back of a truck to the different houses. The church had a really neat Enchated Forest and Sera fell in LOVE with the miniature horses. We also saw owls, close up! We went back to a good friend's house and had the best ribs and potato salad ! It was tiring and lots of walking for Mom and for little legs, but it was worth every step. They will have lots of memories, I hope and I know they had fun!

Fall Frenzy Photos

To say that things around here are a bit busy, would be as much an understatement as saying I am only mildly concerned about my children's future in a country ready to give up on the work ethic it was founded on....

So instead of a boring and long story of our Boo at the Zoo trip (in which I was able to hobble around the entire zoo on, BTW) and our rapid dash to the pumpkin patch due to all the schedule, weather and illness conflicts. Here are some photos of my sweeties. They tell the stories well enough!!

side note- Sera has had horrible sinus problems and I have called Shriners to hurry up and schedule her repairs!! She is happy and smiley, but oh, so congested!!! Please keep her surgery date in your prayers! It needs to be SOON!

I love this photo!!! Sera loves her grandpa too!

This photo was taken just before Andy lost his sword..... Imagine that!

Apple Pickin'

We went with Grandpa to go pick some apples from Grandma's old farm. We had a blast, once the kids got sorted out and calmed down.... that is. They so love to spend time with Grandpa but when they are all together, they all compete for attention and it is so hard for him to listen to them all at once and cope with their squabbling which inevitably results when one feels left out :-) Thanks to the IPod and their audiobooks and Chinese lessons, we calmly and safely made it to the farm! They had so much fun collecting the apples and pears! Aubri loved climbing the trees and Grandpa was so unsteady on his feet, along with myself not being able to feel my left foot at all and landing precariously with each step on all the rotten apples, that I spent most of the time praying we would all go home safely. Thankfully my prayers were heard and we really enjoyed the ride home looking at all the farm animals and crops and listening to Grandpa tell us about them.

We so LOVE spending time with him!!!

New Teeth!!!

Andy worried all last year that he was never going to lose a tooth, like his friends. Well, just last week he lost his first tooth!! The adult tooth was actually already there, behind it, and already through the skin. I had wanted to take a photo, but somehow my charger moved.... all by itself, it would seem, to Andy's room! So I could not, and he was disappointed. I guess the Love and Logic for this was really apparent to him since he just brought it to me and told me that he was not going to touch it again so that I can take a photo of his next lost tooth!

Here is a photo of the space his first lost tooth was in! ( Yes.... orthodontics are definitely in his future!)

****** Photo will be posted when my new hard drive is installed and I figure out how to put the old one in this external case to try to recover my photos I had not yet backed up!!! WAHH!!!!

Last day of summer swimming at our favorite community pool!

Bark Park

Sera with Bitzi- a tiny Yorkie Poo with a wild overbite!
Andy with Bitzi's sister, Lucy
BaoBao checking every single dog out that entered the park! He is so friendly and social! I guess he must have got it from the kids, because they had to pet every dog that came in the park too!


Races! Kids and dogs! Everyone wins! BTW....Check out how much Sera's running has improved!

We are home now and everyone is TIRED!! BaoBao is happily napping on my lap and the kids are snoozing away too!

I figure that besides my having fun watching them, it was well worth the effort to enjoy some peace and quiet too!